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Friday, July 28, 2006

Transsexuals And Gender Stereotypes

What drives a person to change their gender? This could be a mysterious question to ponder, and to search one's inner thoughts and feelings towards sex and genders.... Many people at one point or another fantasize about being part of the other sex, but what makes such fantasy so strong that one has to undergo a sex reassignment operation?

A classical scenario would go like: "I feel like a man trapped in a woman's body?" - Many people reason that they dont look on the outside that way they feel on the inside.... How far could this argument go? Could we really say that there is a direct relation between how one looks and what they are on the inside? Could one actually modify themselves to look superficially the same way they feel inside their own heads?

The way i see it, such claims emphasize stereotyped correlations that societies form through ruthless and unsubstantiated prejudice... Lets look at the claim again: "I feel like a man trapped in a woman's body?" - How exactly does a man feel? What a woman is not supposed to feel? How do you know that you are not from one gender but the other? Such claims assumes a clear line between whats masculine and whats feminine.... Could such segregation be unprejudiced and not stereotyped? My point is, while some think that transsexualism eliminates grounds for gender stereotypes I think in one way or another it's serving making the distinction more profound....

Gender transformation could be justified and motivated diversely among many people, but I wandered around one of the largely used arguments in that field and showed my discontent for the kind of reasoning behind it... This is not to claim that all of the justifications are necessarily flawed - and obviously the transformation remains a personal judgment call!!

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

well about this....I think gender identity is like the person you identify yourselves with...like for example guys like watching movies with male leads and women female leads because that's how they want to see themselves....because we have differences between men and women in society (nurtured), there's a line of disctiction....if transgenders are accepted, it means it's ok for a guy to behave like a girl and hence reduces gender differences.....but yet gender identity is still which sex you identify yourselves with....

I know this post is old as fuck, but I wanted to leave my input for people who stumble upon this on the web, like I did.

I am a Transman and for me being Transgender has nothing to with "feeling" like a man. I do not feel like a man, I am a man, and it's simple as that.

I'm not transgender because I WANT to be seen by society as a stereotypical male; I have no feelings regarding how others in society perceive me. Rather, I'm transgender because I'm horribly unhappy in my current gender. I hate my genitals, and the thought of being called "She""Miss""Girlfriend""Wife", etc, makes me sick to my stomach. I am a man because it's what feels right, and if being a man makes me feel right in my own body for once then I'm sure as the hell going to be a man regardless of what gender stereotypes I do or do not fill.

Being Transgender isn't about conforming to society's gender binary, it's about what doing what makes you feel whole. If your gender feels so wrong to you that you'd rather kill yourself than life as your assigned sex, then fuck society! Fuck them right in the ass and do whatever makes you whole, makes you feel right, and most importantly, what makes you feel happy. There's nobody to please but yourself, and no matter how many "girly" or "manly" traits you may have, it does not make you a man/woman; only you can decide which gender (or lack thereof) to align yourself with.

About Me

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I am a MSc mechatronics engineering student in the American University of Sharjah. -
Personal Description:
Me?? I'm just another guy out there!!! A bit careless and lazy. Also am so easygoing, honest, and smart. My interest areas are computers, rock and trance music, and psychology as well.